The Ghost and the Princess
by Seraina
Summary: Decisions have been made that cannot be taken back. The Fire Nation royal family members must be cursed. They cannot stop ruining each others' lives. Takes place several years after the events of The Search. Now a collection of loosely connected one-shots.
1. The Ghost and the Princess

She glides down the palace hallways like a ghost, her face blank and pale. Her red robes hang off of her thin frame. She's been ill and this is the first day she is able to get up on her own. He steps are slow, her right side is stiff but her head is quiet. Just like the palace. She passes the servants and they whisper, but she can't bring herself to care. She stops as she enters the dining room, suddenly unsure of herself.

"Azula? Are you feeling better?"

She turns to her mother and nods slowly.

"Will you join us for breakfast?"

She nods again and slowly shuffles to her place at the table. Her brother is already up and pulls out the chair for her. She is exhausted by the time she sits and lets her mother fawn over her. Her younger sister sets a plate in front of her and she eats. She is not hungry, but the food is freely given and no one is stopping her from eating it.

"Azula, are you in any pain?" Zuko asks hesitantly.

She stops eating for a minute and then shakes her head before resuming.

"What do you feel like doing today, Azula?" Her mother asks pleasantly. Ursa seems to be making up lost time now that her eldest daughter is home. She will not leave the Princess alone for more than an hour at a time.

She does not respond. Instead, she stares into the space across from her.

"I have a meeting with the Avatar later, so I won't be able to join you today." Her brother rises from the table.

"We can go out to the garden, Azula," Kiyi rises and takes her older sister's hand. Azula stands and allows the thirteen-year-old to guide her.

"Zuko! There you are!" The young Avatar calls out as he enters the royal dining chambers, though he pauses mid-stride upon seeing the woman that once murdered him.

Princess Azula does not react. She does not react to much of anything these days.

"Azula?" Aang turns to Zuko for an explanation. The last time he saw Azula, she had tried to kill her mother and fled into the wilderness.

"We found her a year ago, wandering near the Forgetful Valley. I sought out the Mother of Faces, but she said she did not help Azula. She was… unstable, nearly feral. She was taken back to the hospital for treatment. Then six months ago, she was released back into my care."

"But what happened?" The Avatar found himself staring at the woman that haunts his nightmares, but all he sees is a ghost. Maybe she turned into a hallucination like the ones that plagued her? She feels unreal most times. Like she could just phase through the walls if she pushes hard enough.

"She had an operation to treat her mood swings. She's perfectly safe to be around now, Aang," Her mother steps up to put a hand on her arm. She squeezes her sister's hand slightly.

"And this was a success?" The Avatar looks surprised and distressed all at once. Those are alien feelings that do not pierce the fog in her mind.

"Yes. She no longer sees things that aren't there. She's much calmer and she's become part of the family now." Her mother runs her fingers through her hair. It was longer before, but was shaved before her operation.

"Azula?" The Avatar looks at her and she meets his gaze. "Can you hear me?"

Azula nods slowly.

"Are you happy?"

She takes a long moment and then shakes her head.

"Why not?" The Avatar gently holds the princess's hands. She opens her mouth and all that comes out is gibberish. The woman that conquered Ba Sing Se with a handful of words has had hers taken from her.

Her babble continues and she grips Aang's hands tightly, though she shows no outward emotion.

"How can you say this is better? Look at her, her soul is gone!" The Avatar shouts and she drops his hands. The room around her grows silent except for the sound of water hitting the floor.

"Avatar! We had no choice! It was either this or she would destroy herself and others. This way, everyone stays safe," her mother implored the Avatar, begging him to believe the words.

Her sister gently pulls her away from the Avatar, away from the puddle she created. "Come, Azula, let me help clean you up." She knows she should feel… something. But the world seems so flat now. She relies on Kiyi to help her now. Ty Lee had been around, but couldn't stay. Her non-bending sister was her only ally against her mother and brother that dress her like a doll and parade her around silently to the nobles.

Nobles that crave power enough to want to marry her, despite the fact that she can no longer care for herself. There are many powerful men in the country that will take the crippled princess so that they may produce an heir to the throne.

Not that she would be able to stop them. Her fire is still there, but she has no will to burn. Burnt out when the ice spike was formed behind her eye and stabbed at her brain. She has no memory of it, but Kiyi does. The child is unhappy in the palace of lies. She dreams of leaving, but lacks the courage.

The girl is cursed like the rest of the family. Tied to the ghosts that haunt them.

The ghost of Azula clings to her sister as the younger girl cries again. She misses her mother, Noriko, and despises the Fire Lord for taking her away. Turning her into another woman who is quick to lie and scheme. The elder princess mutters nonsense syllables to try to soothe the girl.

She remembers what it was like to be abandoned. That is why they must stick together.


	2. Heir to the Broken Throne

Kiyi holds her breath until the guard passes into the next corridor, then lets it out slowly as she creeps on on her bare feet towards her destination. Ursa banned her from wandering the palace halls late at night, which is precisely why she continues to disobey the woman who was not her mother. Assassins were still such a danger, even though Fire Lord Zuko is the most beloved leader that the nation has had in over a millennium. Still, she keeps a kama hidden in her kimono, the farmer's weapon felt more at home in her hands than any sword she ever trained with.

The door at the end of the hallway is locked, but Kiyi was expecting this. She withdrawals the slender lock picks from the hem of her sleeve and sets to work, silently manipulating the tumblers back into place. The old door yields to her touch and she quietly pushes it open.

Quiet sobs and the sound of rutting greets the youngest princess and the kama is in her hands instantly.

The teenaged princess does not yell or shout. The tool that her father once used to tend the family garden struck true, planted between the shoulder blades of the guard that was on top of her sister.

Azula brought her legs up and kicked the man in the chest so he toppled to the floor. Her breath comes in short gasps and her eyes are far away, she does not recognize her savior just yet.

Kiyi closes and locks the door and braces it with a chair. The body on the floor will need to be dealt with later, but that is a concern for the morning. The younger princess walks to the bed and unbuckles the restraints that hold Azula's hands to the bed. As soon as Azula's hands are free, she rolls over and curls up on her side, facing away from Kiyi.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner. Mother locked me in my room again," she whispers in the darkness and picks the quilt off the floor where it had been tossed earlier. She smooths the old blanket over her sister, then slips into the bed with her.

Azula does not move, but her breathing slows enough to let Kiyi know that she will be okay. That is a lie though, Azula will never be okay. Not since the surgery that dulled her mind and made the former conquerer of Ba Sing Se dependent on Zuko's generosity.

"Soon. Soon we'll be able to leave," Kiyi whispers as she tucks her arms around herself. She just killed a man and that fact settles around her shoulders like a heavy cloak. She forces her breath to come evenly, she will not panic. Panic will bring more guards. The guards that take advantage of Azula in her weakened state.

Azula still does not move. She does not seem to care that her attacker is dead on the floor.

"Soon as you're... you're well enough to travel. We'll... sn-sneak out," Kiyi breathes, curling up in a position that mimics her sister. Kiyi knows there will be consequences tomorrow. She will be sent away. Not home to Hira'a, but to that boarding school, the Royal Academy for Girls. She will be alone, vulnerable, and outclassed by everyone there since it was just a fluke that she shared blood with Fire Lord Zuko. "We'll go to Hira'a. Papa will help us get out of the country."

Azula shifts her position, awkwardly maneuvering her enlarged stomach from one side to the other. She looks as if the baby is eating her from the inside. Her cheeks are hollow, the circles under her eyes look like black smears of soot, and her bones stick out from underneath her skin make her look like some sort of demon mother.

Kiyi wipes at her eyes when her sister faces her and looks into the fierce amber eyes of the Hand of Ozai, the woman that entire nations feared. "Azula?"

"Ikem," the elder princess says, her face set in a serious line.

"Yes, my father's name is Ikem," Kiyi conforms, though her parents' former names are still strange to her. At least her father was the same man no mater what name he wore.

"Ikem... is dead." Azula says slowly. Secretly the sisters have been working on Azula's speech; it was a small step towards regaining their freedom.

"No," Kiyi shakes her head and looks away from her sister. They look so much alike now it is frightening. "St-stop lying to me Azula."

"Zuzu... had him executed," Azula concentrates on every word, though those golden eyes do not stray from Kiyi at all. "He wanted to... take you away. Mother... said no."

Her escape plans dashed, Kiyi does not bother to stop the tears. Her father was all she had left of her old life. Now her only family lives within these walls. Azula does not touch her, which is what Kiyi expects. "You will give birth soon."

Azula ignores the parasite within her. Zuko will claim the child as his own, ensuring that Azula has no heirs to use against him. Kiyi fears that when she is old enough, she will suffer the same fate. Or worse, married off to an old general that is loyal to the throne.

"If you keep... killing guards... Zuko might banish you," Azula says suddenly. "Iroh will take you in."

Kiyi nods, wiping her face once more. "You should sleep. Ursa is going to drug you again if you seem unwell."

Azula sighs and closes her eyes and Kiyi follows.

"Oh Azula!? What have you done!" At first light Ursa stands in the doorway, having had the door broken in.

Azula shoves her sister down and lurches up from the bed, lightening crackling in her palms. The body burns. The wardrobe burns. The rug is now on fire. Kiyi uses the distraction to slip out of the window. Kiyi makes it to her room in record time and slips into her private washroom.

"Soon," she whispers to the mirror.

The mirror smiles back at her, though Kiyi's expression does not change.


End file.
